After watching the United States’ elimination from the World Cup at the hands of Ghana on Saturday, New England soccer fans shifted some of their attention back to the Revolution.

The last time they’d seen the Revs in MLS play, though, there was little to get excited about. Before the league went on hiatus to grant the Yanks center stage, Steve Nicol‘s club hit rock bottom after a 3-0 loss in Seattle wherein they were outshot 19-2.

In returning to action at Gillette Stadium, the Revs again fell – this time 1-0 to the Chicago Fire at Gillette Stadium – but did not look clueless in the process, at least.

Rate this:

According to the Revolution (who would know best), Steve Ralston will be re-donning his number 14 uniform. Sainey Nyassi will pick up number 17. No word yet on exactly how Ralston fits in — we don’t really have to worry, I suppose, for a few weeks — on the Revs’ current incarnation, but I doubt he’s coming back to ride the pine. The locker room presence angle is an important one, but I imagine he’ll see plenty of time on the field as well.

Sorry for so little coverage today (twenty hour work days warrant such acts, or lack thereof really, and it’s very tough to update a blog from a phone…) but we’ll have more on what this means for the Revs in the coming days. It might be World Cup season, but don’t stop coming by — we’ll have plenty of content during the season’s intermission.

Sainey and Sanna Nyassi would love to see the field against one another.

They grew up under the same roof in Gambia and shared the field as teammates playing for Gambia’s Port Authority and their home nation’s youth and senior national clubs. But for the first time Saturday, the Nyassi twins – Sainey and Sanna – may see the field together on opposite ends.

In 2009, Sanna’s first season playing in MLS, Sainey claimed bragging rights as the Revolution went 2-0 against his brother’s Seattle Sounders FC. However, the twins did not set foot on the field at the same time during either match. In New England’s trip to Seattle, Sainey came off the field two minutes before Sanna’s 69th minute substitution. When Seattle came to New England, Sanna did not travel with his club.

The Revolution will head into the World Cup break following this Saturday night’s match against Seattle Sounders FC. The 2009 expansion club has had trouble scoring this season, but they’ve remained somewhat competitive in front of keeper and captain Kasey Keller. Seattle enters the match at 3-5-3, good for 12 points, only four of which have come in the last six matches. That places them at sixth in the Western Conference. New England by comparison sits at 3-6-2 (11 points), good for fourth in the east.

That the Revs, with a worse record, sit far more comfortably in their division than does Seattle in its own is reflected in the results of each club. There’s little question which conference is stronger this season, and both Seattle and New England are winless in 2010 against the West, having collected all of their victories against Eastern Conference foes.